The White House has requested that the three Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) resign by end of day Thursday or face termination, a source close to the agency confirmed.
Why it matters: The move will dismantle a key intelligence program watchdog agency, leaving it with just one member as it prepares to help lawmakers navigate a highly contentious debate over whether to keep certain government surveillance powers intact.
Dozens of Reddit's communities, or subreddits, have discussed or enacted bans on links to Elon Musk's X in response to Musk's gestures at a Trump inaugural event that manyinterpreted as a Nazi salute.
The big picture: Social media users have been criticizing Musk for the gesture, posting videos of him raising his arm side by side with neo-Nazis doing the same.
MrBeast, one of the most successful internet creators, may join a bid by real estate mogul and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt to buy TikTok's U.S. arm, McCourt told Axios' Sara Fischer in Davos on Wednesday.
Why it matters: McCourt has said that he's gotten $20 billion in commitments to his bid but hasn't detailed who the investors are — as the popular app's future has remained in flux.
Today's CEOs are likely the last who will "manage a workforce of only human beings," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff toldAxios' Ina Fried in Davos Wednesday.
Why it matters: The rise of generative AI "agents," which Benioff described Wednesday as "digital labor," is among the next wave of advancements for the tech.
Axios has multiple leaders and journalists circulating around Davos this year, having conversations with industry leaders on important topics. Check out what some of them are saying...
Hours after President Trump announced a major artificial intelligence investment, it faced skepticism from one of his closest allies: DOGE head Elon Musk.
Why it matters: Musk publicly undermining the $500 billion project, led by OpenAI and other tech titans, could draw Trump's ire.
Pinterest's move to support cellphone-free schools is a "bold step," but the social media industry still needs a shift in incentives, tech ethicist Tristan Harris told Axios during an event on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
Why it matters: A former design ethicist at Google, Harris founded a nonprofit, the Center for Humane Technology, to call attention to harms caused by social media and AI and identify and advocate for solutions.
DAVOS, Switzerland – More companies are looking to AI to help curb labor shortages in multiple industries, leaders said in Davos.
Why it matters: The manufacturing industry, for example, is "suffering from a shortage of labor," said Siemens AG managing board member, chief technology officer, and chief strategy officer Peter Koerte.
AI can bring "good employment, good productivity, good growth," he said.
One example for increasing productivity is shortening the time it takes to troubleshoot issues, Koerte added.
Axios' Courtenay Brown and Alison Snyder moderated conversations with Koerte and Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm in Davos. The Jan. 20 conversations were sponsored by Gecko Robotics.
Yes, but: Implementing AI within a workforce also means current employees need upskilling, Stausholm said.
"You want to create an environment where you unlock the full curiosity of people. You don't want people to just act like robots. … You can actually unlock a lot of creativity in an organization," Stausholm said.
But, "everything that can be automated should be automated," he said.
Driving the news: Stausholm, a Danish citizen, also addressed a question over Greenland's highly coveted minerals and whether Rio Tinto was interested, saying, "be my guest for some of my competitors who want to go to Greenland."
Stausholm pointed out that mining in Greenland often isn't economically efficient because of the lack of infrastructure between cities. "Everything has to be airborne. The logistic cost up there is enormous."
Sponsored content:
In a View From the Top sponsored segment, Gecko Robotics co-founder and CEO Jake Loosararian highlighted the benefit of using AI in the industrial and manufacturing industries, but also stressed the need for more data to improve these technologies.
"A lot of the infrastructure with artificial intelligence just simply does not exist. And so one thing that's super important for all of us to understand is that artificial intelligence is worthless, and actually worse can drive horrible results that can impact both safety and an environment if you aren't feeding it good data," Loosararian said.
DAVOS, Switzerland – Corporate affairs leaders are using AI to better understand and communicate not only with the world, but also their own employees.
Why it matters: Studies show AI can boost employee productivity. But, it can also provide an important feedback loop for businesses, said Coca-Cola Company EVP and global chief communications, sustainability & strategic partnerships officer Bea Perez.
Axios' Eleanor Hawkins moderated conversations with Perez, Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin, and Lattice chief communications officer Cheryl Sanclemente in Davos. The Jan. 20 discussions were sponsored by Salesforce.
The latest: The Coca-Cola Company has its own chatGPT for its employees to search internal documents, like company policies, which also allows the company to better understand what employees need.
"Say you're a new employee to the company, you want to know what the entertainment and travel policy [is.] How much can you spend on a lunch? Well, you'd have to sift through lots of paper on a website in the past. Now you just go to Coca-Cola chatGPT, you ask the question, [and it] gives you the information," Perez said.
She added that about 70% of their employees use their chatGPT or have used it in the last 90 days.
Reality check: Perez also emphasized the need to still have humans double-checking the work AI does.
"We have found that we still have to make sure that you have real people looking at it and fact-checking" to make sure it didn't hallucinate.
Separately, Franklin said Lattice – an HR software company that uses AI – believes the technology can help propel people's success in the workplace.
AI can help employees become more efficient in their jobs and understand what's expected of them, while assisting managers in making decisions, she said
AI is "really helping power the people so that people are the most successful part," Franklin added.
Sponsored content:
In a View From the Top sponsored segment, Salesforce EVP and chief communications officer Carolyn Guss said 2025 will be the "year of AI impact," and pointed to the different ways Salesforce is using AI in its corporate affairs and communications strategies, including their new AI agent.
Salesforce's comms team uses their own customer relationship management (CRM) tool to log their media interactions.
"So we've built an agent — we're calling it 'PR Force'— and the agent is going to go through all our Slacks and our emails, [and] our meeting transcripts. … If I want to find out what was our last interaction with Eleanor and what were the vibes? I can just go in and find that and nobody in my team had to do the work of creating that for me," Guss added.
A deal will get done to ensure that TikTok remains available in the U.S., General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford told Axios during an event on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
Why it matters: General Atlantic is a major investor in TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Ford is on ByteDance's board of directors.
Not enough people — venture capitalists included — are paying attention to biological threats and their countermeasures, Paul Kwan, a managing director at General Catalyst, told Axios in an interview.
Why he matters: Kwan leads the investment firm's global resilience team focused on defense, energy and industry.
Companies he's worked with include software-and-drone maker Helsing and information warfare specialist Vannevar Labs.
Shield AI's V-BATwill be the first-ever shipboard drone used by the Japanese navy to collect intelligence and surveil faraway targets.
Why it matters: Shield is placing big bets on the international board. It opened an office in Kyiv, Ukraine, and months ago announced V-BAT production plans in India alongside a $90 million investment from JSW Group.
The U.S. Navy seems to be in directed-energy limbo. Leaders want it. Industry and labs have it. But the vast majority of warships don't.
Why it matters: These sci-fi-style weapons have limitations but can help fend off unmanned aircraft, missiles and more. Those overhead threats are already pounding the Red Sea and Ukraine and would figure prominently in a conflict with China over Taiwan.
"Volatile" is the one word that describes the tech industry's new reality under the second Trump administration.
Why it matters: With AI booming, social media splintering and crypto inflating, the giant companies that drive today's economy face a huge spike in uncertainty.
President Trump on Tuesday announced he signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the unlawful Silk Road marketplace who was convicted of drug trafficking charges.
The big picture: Trump vowed on the campaign trail to commute Ulbricht's sentence as he sought backing to be the Republican Party's presidential nominee from Libertarians, who view the Silk Road founder as a hero.
